CN113474678A

CN113474678A - System and method for compensating for movement of vehicle components

Info

Publication number: CN113474678A
Application number: CN202080016664.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: J·博考; A·瑟洛希; G·谢赖什; B·加尔; A·鲍陶伊; V·蒂豪尼; A·绍保诺什; H·内梅特; C·霍瓦特
Original assignee: Knorr Bremse Systeme fuer Nutzfahrzeuge GmbH
Current assignee: Knorr Bremse Systeme fuer Nutzfahrzeuge GmbH
Priority date: 2019-02-25
Filing date: 2020-01-28
Publication date: 2021-10-01
Anticipated expiration: 2040-01-28
Also published as: JP2022521546A; WO2020173642A1; EP3699630A1; US20220050190A1; JP7280371B2; CN113474678B; KR20210125583A

Abstract

A system for compensating for movement (R, T) of a vehicle component (50, 55) relative to another vehicle component or ground (60) is disclosed, wherein one or more sensors (70) are supported by the vehicle component (50, 55). The system comprises a control unit (110) configured to be able to perform the steps of: receiving sensor data from the one or more sensors (70); detecting the movement (R, T) of the vehicle component (50, 55); and determining compensation data to enable compensation of sensor data deviations caused by the motion (R, T).

Description

System and method for compensating for movement of vehicle components

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a system and method for compensating motion of a vehicle component relative to another vehicle component or the ground, and in particular to motion compensation in ground sensing of sensors on commercial vehicles.

Background

In particular, autonomous driving of transportation vehicles requires more and more sophisticated functionality based on high-end software and hardware infrastructure including various types of environmental sensors. Such commercial vehicles are therefore equipped with more and more sensor units to capture more and more environmental details around the vehicle.

These sensors are often mounted at the vehicle cab, in part because the cab is the highest part of a commercial vehicle, and thus the environment and surroundings of the vehicle are well understood. On the other hand, typical cab suspensions allow considerable movements/displacements between the cab and the chassis/undercarriage, which can significantly affect the sensing results of the environmental sensors. This may lead to a deviation of the sensor data, which may lead to errors, for example when measuring the distance to the leading vehicle. For many applications, this is unacceptable, especially for autonomous driving.

WO 2018/142057 discloses a conventional device for calibrating a sensing system comprising a LIDAR rangefinder, wherein calibration parameters are determined from the detection of at least one camera and landmarks. Another conventional system is disclosed in US2015/317781, which uses extrinsic calibration of imaging sensing devices and generates a 3D point cloud based on multiple sensors. In particular, the system acquires calibration parameters based on a combination of a camera and a LIDAR system.

While these systems may be used to calibrate sensing devices on a vehicle, these conventional systems do not account for relative movement of the cab with respect to the ground or commercial vehicle undercarriage.

Disclosure of Invention

Accordingly, there is a need for a system that overcomes at least some of the above-mentioned problems.

At least some of the problems of conventional systems are overcome by the system of claim 1, the method of claim 12 and the computer program product of claim 14. The dependent claims relate to further advantageous implementations of the subject matter of the independent claims.

The present invention relates to a system for compensating movement of a vehicle component relative to another vehicle component or the ground, wherein one or more sensors are supported by the vehicle component. The system comprises a control unit configured to be able to perform the following steps:

-receiving sensor data from one or more sensors;

-detecting a movement of a vehicle component; and

-determining compensation data to enable compensation of deviations in the sensor data caused by the motion.

The vehicle component may be any component of the vehicle, such as a cab, a frame, a chassis, an undercarriage, etc. The component is in particular suspended independently compared to other vehicle components. The independent suspension may cause a movement of the component during operation that should be compensated with respect to other vehicle components, such as the wheels during operation. The respective compensation of the sensor data of the various sensors of the vehicle can be performed in the control unit or any other control unit. Compensation can be used to improve the perception of the environment, which is particularly advantageous for autonomous driving.

The one or more sensors may be a plurality of sensors supported or held by the vehicle component or other vehicle components. Optionally, the control unit is further configured to be able to determine the compensation data based on data received by one or more of the plurality of sensors. Furthermore, the control unit may be configured to be able to provide compensation data for correcting sensor data from some or all of the plurality of sensors. Thus, the compensation data may be based on data of one sensor, but may also be used for other sensors on the vehicle.

The vehicle component may be a cab of a commercial vehicle and the control unit may be configured to be able to determine the position and/or deviation of the position of the cab relative to the ground, which may again be based on the motion detected by the one or more sensors.

The vehicle component may be a chassis or undercarriage of a commercial vehicle and the control unit may be configured to be able to determine the position of the chassis and/or the deviation of the position relative to the ground.

Optionally, the control unit is further configured to be able to:

-correcting the sensor data according to the determined cab position or deviation of the position; and/or

-correcting the sensor data according to the determined chassis position or deviation of the position.

Optionally, the control unit is configured to be able to use one of the sensors to determine the ground with respect to the vehicle component. The ground surface may be the surface of a road or street.

The one or more sensors may be configured to generate a point cloud from ground reflections detected by the one or more sensors (e.g., LIDAR), and the control unit may be configured to determine the ground based on the point cloud. The determined terrain may be used to determine compensation data. The determination of the ground may be performed by statistical regression analysis to fit a plane to the point cloud. It will be appreciated that during operation of the vehicle (e.g. driving on a road), the determined ground surface will not be static with respect to the vehicle components, but will vary in accordance with the detected movement. This variation can be compensated for by using compensation data.

Alternatively, the control unit may be configured to be able to determine the ground based on sensor data from one or more sensors in combination with optional other sensors of the vehicle. For example, all sensor data may be merged prior to determining the surface. It is also possible that each of these sensors determines a ground level and that this redundancy can be used to improve accuracy (e.g., by averaging or other statistical analysis).

The vehicle may comprise further sensors for obtaining vehicle data and/or environmental data, and the control unit may be configured to be able to determine the compensation data based in part on the vehicle data and/or environmental sensor data. The vehicle data may relate to vehicle speed, load, braking events, turns, etc. The environmental data may include navigation data, weather conditions (e.g., snow), road inclination, etc.

Other embodiments allow for dynamic correction of received sensor data (e.g., in any control unit of the vehicle) during vehicle operation. In particular, during operation of the vehicle, the control unit may compensate sensor data from any sensor based on the correction information, at least as long as it is affected by the relative motion.

Embodiments are also directed to a commercial vehicle having a component suspended independently of other vehicle components and having at least one sensor supported by (e.g., mounted on) the component. The commercial vehicle comprises a system as described in the foregoing. Optionally, the one or more sensors comprise one or more of the following sensors: LIDAR (light detection and ranging), monocular and/or stereo cameras, radar, ultrasound sensors.

Yet another embodiment relates to a method for compensating for movement of a vehicle component relative to another vehicle component or the ground, wherein at least one sensor is mounted on the vehicle component. The method comprises the following steps:

-receiving sensor data from at least one sensor;

-detecting movement of the component; and

-determining compensation data to compensate for sensor data deviations caused by motion.

Optionally, the method may include continuously determining compensation data during operation of the vehicle to enable dynamic correction of sensor data received from various sensors of the vehicle.

Furthermore, any of the functions of the described system may be implemented by other alternative method steps.

The method may also be implemented in software or a computer program product, and the order of the steps may not be critical to achieving the desired effect. The embodiments of the invention may in particular be implemented by software or software modules in any ECU (electronic control unit) of the vehicle. Embodiments therefore also relate to a computer program having a program code for performing the method when the computer program is executed on a processor.

Embodiments of the present invention address at least some of the above issues with a system that is capable of evaluating the ground (or the ground) relative to the actual position of the frame (or any relatively movable component) of a vehicle on which one or more exemplary perception sensors may be mounted. The frame may be the cab or chassis of a commercial vehicle or any other independently suspended part of the vehicle. The frame may shift (or any movement) due to dynamic forces acting during operation of the vehicle. From the data of at least one of the environmental perception sensors, the system is able to evaluate the displacement of the frame relative to the ground or relative to another vehicle component. The displacement can be related not only to a translational movement of one of the three spatial axes but also to a rotational or oscillating or rocking movement of the respective vehicle component. The determined displacement is used to compensate for corresponding errors in the sensor data (e.g., correct for distance to the vehicle in front).

In contrast to conventional systems, embodiments account for and then compensate for relative motion of vehicle components. Thus, embodiments may not be used as (or at least not only as) a calibration of the environmental sensor itself, but take into account the mentioned relative displacements and achieve their dynamic compensation.

One particular advantage of an embodiment relates to the fact that it allows to evaluate the displacement of the frame with respect to the ground in real time and thus allows to better convert the sensor data of the sensors mounted on the frame into a coordinate system associated with the (entire) vehicle. Thus, a better and more accurate perception of the environment is achieved. In particular, the accuracy of the positioning of the object detected by the sensor is significantly improved.

Drawings

Some examples of such systems and/or methods are described below, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a system for compensating motion of a vehicle component relative to a reference according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 shows a commercial vehicle with a cab subject to (relative) movement to be compensated for according to other embodiments;

fig. 3 shows a flow chart of a method according to a further embodiment.

Detailed Description

FIG. 1 illustrates a system for compensating motion of a

vehicle component

50, 55 using a sensor 70 (or more sensors) according to one embodiment of the present invention. The

vehicle component

50, 55 may be the cab 50 of a commercial vehicle or any other independently suspended component. The movement may involve a displacement or translational movement T, but may also be any kind of swinging or rotational movement R of the

vehicle part

50, 55. The system comprises at least one control unit 110 configured to be able to perform at least the following steps:

Receiving sensor data from the sensor 70;

-detecting the movement R, T of the

component

50, 55; and

-determining compensation data to be able to compensate for sensor data deviations caused by the motion R, T.

The sensor 70 may be configured to be able to detect the ground 60 and determine any movement of the

vehicle component

50, 55 relative to the ground 60 or another vehicle component. To accomplish this, the sensor 70 may be a LIDAR (Light detection and Ranging) sensor that creates a point cloud from the reflection 67 from the ground 60, which ground 60 may be the surface of a road or street. From this point cloud, the control unit 110 may be configured to be able to fit a plane by statistical regression analysis. If the

component

50, 55 is subjected to the motion R, T, the determined plane will change (relative to the component 50, 55). From this analysis, the control unit 110 may determine the amount of change, which may be the angle of rotation or more generally the coordinate transformation associated with the rotational/oscillatory movement of the

components

50, 55 relative to the ground.

By continuously monitoring the ground 60, the control unit 110 is able to detect any deviations over time during operation of the commercial vehicle and generate compensation data suitable for compensating the relative movement R, T of the

components

50, 55.

Fig. 2 shows a commercial vehicle with a cab 50, the cab 50 supporting a plurality of

sensors

71, 72, which may be used as perception sensors. The sensor 70 in fig. 1 may be one of these sensors. The sensors may include a first sensor 71, a second sensor 72, and a third sensor 73 and a fourth sensor. The sensors 71.. 74 may be mounted directly to the cab 50, but may be mounted to any type of frame and move with the cab 50 during operation of the commercial vehicle. The first sensor 71 comprises, for example, a LIDAR sensor, the second sensor 72 may comprise a front facing camera (2D or 3D), the third sensor 73 comprises, for example, a rear facing camera, and the fourth sensor 74 comprises, for example, a radar or ultrasonic sensor.

The cab 50 is mounted to the chassis 55 and may include a control unit 110. Since the suspension of such a cab 50 is optimized for driver comfort, it allows significant movement relative to the vehicle chassis 55 or relative to the ground 60. Thus, the cab 50 may not be rigidly mounted on a chassis or underframe 55, but may swing R (see the lower part of fig. 2) about an axis of rotation lying in a horizontal plane, e.g. parallel to the ground 60. The suspension of the exemplary cab 50 may allow any degree of freedom of movement, for example, between the cab 50 and the chassis 55 and/or relative to the ground 60. Motion R, T is caused by dynamic forces acting on the vehicle, such as by braking and/or accelerating and/or passing over potholes and/or turns or other motions that cause forces on cab 50.

The exemplary rotation R affects the

various sensors

71, 72, so the resulting sensor data should be corrected for reliable results. In other words, the movement R of the cab 50 is compensated before relying on the corresponding sensor data. For example, such motion has the effect of making the sensor data or quantities derived from the sensor data less accurate, requiring a transformation that allows conversion between the ground 60 and the instantaneous vehicle coordinate system. In other words, the coordinate system of the sensor itself is affected by these relative movements, and the initial calibration is no longer valid.

An assessment of this movement can be obtained by detecting the ground 60. If the relative movement of the frame (movable vehicle part 50, 55) to which the

sensors

71, 72 are fixed, relative to the ground 60 is known, the transformation of the sensor data into the coordinate system of the vehicle or the ground can be corrected, i.e. with correct frame displacement information. In this way, sensor displacements caused by movement of the cab 50 can be compensated for, thereby improving the accuracy of the resulting sensor results.

At least one of the

perception sensors

71, 72, 73, 74 may, for example, determine an exemplary point cloud to obtain the ground 60 at any time during operation of the vehicle. The ground 60 may also be obtained based on radar imaging or using one or more ultrasonic sensors. The relative movement of the cab 50 and chassis 55 and/or chassis 55 and ground 60 may then be evaluated or determined and the results used to compensate for the sensing of any of these sensors 71 to 74 mounted on the same frame.

Further, the

sensors

71, 72. The reference calibration may be obtained, for example, during a first setup of the

sensors

71, 72. The compensation data may be derived by comparing the determined surface 60 to an initial calibration surface that may be stored in the control unit 110 or other memory. By this comparison, the control unit 110 can obtain a transformation between the two coordinate systems, i.e. the vehicle coordinate system when stationary and the coordinate system during movement of the component.

The control unit 110 may be arranged in the cab 50 or any other location in the vehicle and receive sensor data from the

sensors

71, 72. The control unit 110 may be any kind of electronic control unit of the vehicle, which is adapted to determining and providing compensation data (by installing corresponding software). The compensation data may be any kind of information suitable for correcting sensor data from

various sensors

71, 72,.. or from other sensors to compensate for movement R, T of exemplary cab 50 during operation. This compensation may be performed dynamically during vehicle operation to continuously compensate for continuous movement R, T of the vehicle component 50.

The evaluation of the movement of the exemplary frame relative to the ground 60 allows compensation for the displacement of any other sensor mounted to the same frame. For example, when the displacement correction in fig. 2 is derived from the first sensor 71, the results can also be used for the

cameras

72 and 73, taking into account the different positions of these objects on the cab 50, since the relative positions of the first sensor 71 and the second and

third sensors

72 and 73 do not change during the movement R, T. In other words, the determined compensation may be used to transform the coordinate system of the frame (vehicle component 50, 55) back to the initial coordinate system on which the initial calibration was based. In this way, any sensor data from sensors using the same coordinate system can be compensated.

The same principle can be used for sensors on other vehicle frames, which in turn can be compensated by determining changes in their coordinate systems.

Fig. 3 shows a flow chart of a method for compensating motion R, T of a

vehicle component

50, 55 relative to another vehicle component or ground 60, wherein at least one sensor 70 is mounted on the

vehicle component

50, 55. The method comprises the following steps:

-S110, receiving sensor data from at least one sensor 70;

S120, detecting R, T the movement of the component 50; and

-S130, determining compensation data to compensate for sensor data deviations caused by the motion R, T.

The method may also be a computer-implemented method. Those skilled in the art will readily recognize that the steps of the various methods described above may be performed by a programmed computer. Embodiments are also intended to encompass program storage devices, such as digital data storage media, which are machine or computer readable and encode machine-executable or computer-executable program instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed on a computer or processor, perform some or all of the acts of the above-described methods.

A particular advantage of embodiments of the present invention relates to the fact that the position of the

components

50, 55 relative to the ground 60, which maintain the

perception sensors

71, 72. The assessment may be derived from one or more of the

sensors

71, 72, which detect the environment and are capable of detecting the surface 60.

It should be understood that the

sensors

71, 72,. from which the surface 60 may be evaluated within the present invention should not be limited to a particular sensor. Furthermore, embodiments of the present invention should not be limited to the evaluation of the ground 60, but may also be used to derive any relative motion with respect to another object or component of the vehicle.

The compensation data may also be used to improve the quality of the environmental perception required for object detection, free space detection or other functions, for example provided by a plurality of sensors. In this way, the environment can be better perceived, in particular when implemented in an autonomous commercial vehicle, which can make the vehicle operate more safely.

Advantageous embodiments include one or more of the following:

embodiments relate to a situational awareness system for a commercial vehicle, wherein the awareness system uses at least one situational awareness sensor 70 mounted to the

same frame

50, 55 to calculate the position of an independent suspension component of the commercial vehicle relative to the ground 60.

Embodiments are also directed to an environmental awareness system for a commercial vehicle, wherein the awareness system calculates the position of the cab relative to the ground 60 based on an environmental awareness sensor 70 mounted on the cab 50.

Embodiments are also directed to an environmental awareness system for a commercial vehicle, wherein the awareness system calculates the position of the chassis relative to the ground 60 based on environmental awareness sensors 70 mounted on the undercarriage 55.

In the context awareness system, the context awareness sensor data may be corrected with the estimated position of the ground relative to the cab.

In the context aware system, the context aware sensor data may be corrected with the estimated ground relative to the undercarriage position.

In context perception, ground evaluation may be based on a fit of a plane to a point cloud after segmentation of ground points.

In environmental perception, the sensor 70 that detects the ground 60 may be at least one LIDAR sensor 71.

In context sensing, the sensor 70 that detects the ground 60 may be at least one monocular or

stereo camera

72, 73.

In environmental sensing, the sensor 70 that detects the ground 60 may be at least one radar 74.

In environmental sensing, the sensor 70 that detects the surface 60 may be at least one ultrasonic sensor 74.

In environmental sensing, the sensors 70 that detect the surface 60 may be a combination of the sensors as previously described.

In context sensing, the sensing sensor data may be compensated with data calculated by the control system.

The specification and drawings merely illustrate the principles of the disclosure. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise various arrangements which, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the disclosure and are included within its scope.

Furthermore, although each embodiment may stand on its own as a separate example, it should be noted that the defined features may be combined differently in other embodiments, i.e. a particular feature described in one embodiment may also be implemented in other embodiments. Such combinations are encompassed by the disclosure herein unless a specific combination is not intended.

List of reference numerals

50 (independently suspended) vehicle component, driver's cabin

55 base plate

60 ground

67 reflection

70. 71, … sensor

110 control unit

R, T movement (rotation, displacement, translation, etc.)

Claims

1. A system for compensating motion (R, T) of a vehicle component (50, 55) relative to another vehicle component or ground (60), wherein one or more sensors (70) are supported by the vehicle component (50, 55),

the method is characterized in that:

the system further comprises a control unit (110) configured to be able to perform the steps of:

-receive sensor data from the one or more sensors (70);

-detecting the movement (R, T) of the vehicle component (50, 55); and

-determining compensation data so as to be able to compensate sensor data deviations caused by the motion (R, T).

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more sensors (70) are a plurality of sensors (71, 72, 73,. eta.) supported by the vehicle component (50, 55) or other vehicle components,

The method is characterized in that:

the control unit (110) is further configured to:

-determining the compensation data based on data received by one or more sensors of the plurality of sensors; and

-being able to provide said compensation data for correcting sensor data from some or all of said plurality of sensors (71, 72, 73 …).

3. System according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the vehicle component (50, 55) is a cab (50) of a commercial vehicle,

the method is characterized in that:

the control unit (110) is further configured to be able to determine a position of the cab (50) relative to the ground (60) or a deviation of the position.

4. System according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the vehicle component (50, 55) is a chassis (55) of a commercial vehicle,

the method is characterized in that:

the control unit (110) is further configured to be able to determine a position of the chassis (55) relative to the ground (60) or a deviation of the position.

5. The system according to claim 3 or 4,

the method is characterized in that:

the control unit (110) is further configured to:

-sensor data can be corrected based on the determined position of the cab (50) or a deviation of the position; and/or

-being able to correct sensor data based on the determined position of the chassis (55) or a deviation of the position.

6. The system according to any one of the preceding claims,

the method is characterized in that:

the control unit (110) is configured to be able to determine the ground with respect to the vehicle component (50, 55) using one of the sensors (70).

7. The system as recited in claim 6, wherein the one or more sensors (70) are configured to be capable of generating a point cloud from ground reflections (67) detected by the one or more sensors (70),

the method is characterized in that:

the control unit (110) is further configured to be able to determine the ground based on the point cloud and to use the determined ground to determine the compensation data.

8. The system according to claim 6 or 7,

the method is characterized in that:

the control unit (110) is configured to be able to determine the ground (60) based on sensor data from a sensor combination of the one or more sensors (70) and optionally other sensors of the vehicle.

9. System according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the vehicle comprises further sensors for acquiring vehicle data and/or environmental data,

The method is characterized in that:

the control unit (110) is further configured to be able to determine the compensation data based in part on vehicle data and/or environmental sensor data.

10. Commercial vehicle with a component (50, 55) suspended independently of other vehicle components, the component (50, 55) supporting at least one sensor (70),

the method is characterized in that:

the commercial vehicle having a system according to any one of the preceding claims.

11. The commercial vehicle according to claim 10, wherein,

the method is characterized in that:

the one or more sensors (70) include one or more of the following sensors: a LIDAR sensor (71), a monocular or stereo camera (72, 73), a radar (74), an ultrasonic sensor (74).

12. A method for compensating for movement (R, T) of a vehicle component (50, 55) relative to another vehicle component or to the ground (60), wherein at least one sensor (70) is supported by the vehicle component (50, 55),

characterized in that the method comprises:

-receiving sensor data (S110) from the at least one sensor (70);

-detecting the movement (R, T) of the component (50, 55) (S120); and

-determining compensation data so as to be able to compensate for sensor data deviations (S130) caused by the motion (R, T).

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first and second light sources are selected from the group consisting of,

the method is characterized in that:

the compensation data is continuously determined during operation of the vehicle to enable dynamic correction of sensor data received from various sensors of the vehicle.

14. A computer program product having a program code for performing the method when the program code is executed on a processor.